Texas wildfires fueled by gusty winds prompt evacuations [View all]
Source: AP
EASTLAND, Texas (AP) — Low humidity and gusty winds fueled multiple wildfires Friday in Texas, burning homes and other structures and prompting evacuations of hundreds of homes in small communities.
Several wildfires merged to form what fire officials call a “complex” that was burning near Eastland, about 120 miles (195 kilometers) west of Dallas.
As of Friday morning, the fires had burned about 62.5 square miles (162 square kilometers), according to Texas A&M Forest Service. It was only 2% contained and fires were burning in thick brush and grass fields. The forest service warned that the “rare, high impact wildfire phenomenon” could also affect parts of Oklahoma and Kansas.
About 18,000 people live in Eastland County, where the large fire was burning. About 475 homes were evacuated in the town of Gorman, but officials don’t yet know how many structures may have burned, said Matthew Ford, spokesman for Texas A&M Forest Service.
A family walks through smoke down the Arnold Blvd. frontage road after evacuating the Continental Villa mobile home park in Abilene, Texas Thursday March 17, 2022. A quickly-moving grass fire was heading that way, prompting officials to order the evacuation. (Ronald W. Erdrich/The Abilene Reporter-News via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-fires-environment-texas-dallas-220d501ce851321262c3d44d0cec3899
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